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Wide Open Spaces
Yeah. Well. I have way too many songfics. xD And I'm gonna make more. Put up my other old ones that suck for adoption. OA is Dixie Chicks (My childhood band who needs to make a comeback 3-23-12.]][[User talk:Stargaze66| The world will be watching.]] ---- Whitewillow made her mind up then and there that morning, after eating breakfast with her friend Larchclaw and playing with the kits while their mothers stretched. She was leaving. She'd had this....this feeling for the last moons. Like the Clan was too suffocating. She needed to get away for a while. Whitewillow padded over to where her mother and father were sharing a squirrel, purring. "Cherryblossom. Pinepelt." Her parents looked up, love sparking in their eyes when they recognized their daughter. "What is it, sweetie?" Cherryblossom asked after a moment, pale green eyes confused. Whitewillow swallowed. "I'm leaving ShadowClan." Who doesn't know, what I'm talking about? Who's never left home, who's never struck out Cherry blinked once, twice. Pinepelt's jaws froze around the leg of squirrel he'd been chewing. "W-w-why?" Cherryblossom stammered, her eyes - the same pale, minty, fresh green as her daughters - wide with shock and pain. Pinepelt's amber eyes were narrowed. "Because," Whitewillow murmured, casting her eyes upward towards the bright, milky greenleaf sun. "I don't feel like this is home anymore. I feel like I need to find a real home for myself. And I just don't feel like this is home." Cherryblossom's eyes were round with grief. "Will you come back?" Her mother demanded, struggling to her paws and thrusting her face in Whitewillow's. "Tell me you'll come back!" Whitewillow gazed gently at her mother. "I'll try," She whispered. "But I might not be able to." Cherryblossom wailed miserably, and Pinepelt got to his paws and led his mate away, glancing over his shoulder to glare at his daughter. Whitewillow swallowed hard. She knew she was doing the right thing. To find a dream and a life Of their own Without any other long, dramatic goodbyes, Whitewillow left. Left to find herself a new life, one without fighting and violence and sickness and death. Sure, she was going to miss her Clan. But she needed to do this. Whitewillow turned and faced her future with her head held high. A place in the clouds, A foundation of stone Four days came and went. Four days Whitewillow walked. And as the sun was setting on that fourth day, she saw it. Many precede and many will follow A young girl's dream's no longer hollow A small pond, tucked away in the woods. The sides were lined with big stones, and the pond was surrounded by lush greenery. The perfect place to live. Whitewillow crept to the edge of the pool and peered in. Sure enough, there was the silver flashes of fish scales beneath the surface. Whitewillow's stomach growled. She could smell squirrel and mouse and vole from here. This was a good place to live. Plenty of shelter in the thickly woven bushes and overhanging rocks, water to drink from, fish to eat, crawling with woodland prey. Whitewillow found a tall, thick-branched bush and hollowed out a den underneath. She wriggled underneath for a quick nap before exploring her new home. It takes the shape of a place, out west But what it holds for her, She hadn't yet guessed, Whitewillow woke the next morning, feeling warm and well-rested. She crawled out of her den and lapped water from the pond, watching the tiny fish dart about near the bottom. Her rumbling belly reminded her that she hadn't eaten in a while. Licking her lips, Whitewillow skipped into the woods that surrounded her sactuary, memorizing where it was located so she could find it again. She nearly tripped over a fat shrew, and added a mouse to it moments later. It took her a while longer to bring down a squirrel, but in the amount of time it would take her to stalk and kill a rabbit back in ShadowClan, she had caught a feast here. Whitewillow dragged her kill back to her camp and ate with the sun warming her pelt, wondering why she hadn't left ShadowClan earlier. She needed-'' ''Wide open spaces Room to make a big mistake Two moons later, and Whitewillow was homesick. She couldn't stop thinking about Cherryblossom, how upset she'd been. Pinepelt, and how he'd stared at her like he'd hated her before she left. Larchclaw, how she hadn't even said goodbye to before leaving home. How she'd played with the kits before she left and how they'd be so big now. But Whitewillow had made a choice, and she wasn't about to change it just because life by the pond got a little lonely. She needs new faces She knows the high stakes "Hi!" Whitewillow was startled awake by the jubilant mew. She snapped her eyes open and found a small tabby she-cat looming over her, green eyes bright. Whitewillow staggered to her paws, scraping her ears on the branches of the bush, and shot out past the intruder into the open. "Who are you?" She snarled, facing the stranger. "How did you find me?" The tabby looked confused. "I live in a house that way." She pointed with her tail. "I come here every so often. The last few times I've come you were sleeping, too, but my brother Suki said I shouldn't bother you." Whitewillow's tail hit the earth. So she was intruding on someone else's territory? Greaaat. "My name's Taki," The tabby rambled on. "What's your name?" "Whitewillow." "That's a strange name. You live here? This is your home?" That brought Whitewillow up short. Sure, she'd thought of this pond as her home for the last two moons. But...it didn't feel like home. It felt less like home then ShadowClan had. Did that make ShadowClan her home? You're born ShadowClan, A voice in her head murmured. You can't change that just by running away. You're a ShadowClan cat, Whitewillow. The white she-cat squared her shoulders and stood tall. "No," She told Taki. "This isn't my home. I belong by the lake." Taki looked confused, but bobbed her tabby head in a nod. "I like lakes. Beaches, cool water, pretty fish, stuff like that. Do you live on the beach?" But Whitewillow was already racing away, heading back to the lake. Back to ShadowClan. Back home. She traveled this road, As a child As Whitewillow streaked home, she thought about how anxious she'd been to get away from the Clans. How childish she'd been, thinking anywhere but the Clans was a good place to be. She would never make that mistake again. Warrior blood ran through her veins; she would never survive as a loner, with no Clan to care for and to be cared by. Whitewillow couldn't run home fast enough. Wide-eyed and grinning, she never tired But now she won't be coming back With the rest Three days later and WindClan's moors came into view. Whitewillow's heart pounded. Her mother would accept her back home with tears in her eyes, but Pinepelt? He'd looked at her like she was a rouge last time she saw him. Whitewillow doubted he'd be so forgiving. Larchclaw? He'd be angry with her for leaving him without saying a word. But Whitewillow was fairly sure she could make him forgive her. If these are life's lessons, she'll take this test She needs-'' ''Wide open spaces Whitewillow arrived in camp early the next morning. She hesitated outside the enterance, reminded herself, This is home - Then shoved into the camp she'd grown up in. Room to make a big mistake She needs new faces It was virtually unchanged since she'd left. Maybe the bushes had yellowed a bit more. But the inside looked no different. Only one cat was in camp, blinking bleary eyes. Larchclaw. His gaze settled on her. Whitewillow expected his eyes to be surprised, then overjoyed as he rushed over to her and yowled, "Where've you been?" Instead, they were cold and unforgiving as he got to his paws and padded into Thornstar's den. She knows the high stakes, She knows the high stakes Whitewillow's blood turned to ice. She'd expected some cats to hate her for leaving, to be unforgiving, but this was Larchclaw that just went to turn her in... As her folks drive away Her dad yells, "Check the oil." As Larchclaw disappeared in the leader's den, Pinepelt emerged from the warrior's den. Whitewillow gazed steadily at him. His amber eyes sparked, but he only nodded formerly and took a mouse from the fresh-kill pile, biting hard on it. Mom stares out the window, And says, "I'm leavin', my girl." Her mother stumbled tiredly from the nursery a moment later, two tiny kits following close behind. Whitewillow gazed at her new brother and sister, wondering if Cherryblossom and Pinepelt had new kits to replace her. Cherryblossom stopped short when she noticed her older daughter. "Whitewillow." Her voice cracked, and the tiny she-kit, white-furred, like Whitewillow, gazed up at her with rounded yellow eyes. "Cherryblossom." Whitewillow's voice was steady. "Who's this?" She jerked her chin at the two kits. Cherryblossom gulped and swept the two close with her tail. "M-My daughter and son. Skykit and Breezekit." She closed her eyes. "Say hello to Whitewillow, kits." The two small kittens gazed at her. "Hello," They squeaked at the same time, his slightly deeper voice mixing with Skykit's high pitched tone. She said, "It didn't seem like that long ago." When she stood there, and let her own folks know That night, Whitewillow confronted her mother. "You replaced me!" She screeched, fur bristling. Cherryblossom was shaking. "I did not. I was upset about you leaving, and Pinepelt told me I would stop thinking about you more if I was mothering kits. So I had Skykit and Breezekit." Whitewillow was shaking her head already, turning to leave. "What?" Cherryblossom screeched after her. "Want to know why I left, Mother?" Whitewillow hissed without turning. "Because I needed space. Space from all the suffocation. And now you've shoved two more unwanted pests in my face." She needed-'' ''Wide open spaces Whitewillow didn't leave again. How could she? But she never spoke to her mother again, unless necessary. Or her two kits, who always seemed to watch Whitewillow as she was going about her Clan buisiness. Room to make a big mistake She needs new faces She knows the high stakes, She knows the high stakes She knows the high stakes!